The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Freedoom Of The Press

The Indianapolis (Red) Star seems to think that A) The First Amendment trumps the Second and B) "freedom of the press" means they can should press against freedom. Word is they have been threatening a State Representative. Caleb has details.

Rep. Mike Murphy (R, Indianapolis) introduced one of the three (3!) bills wending their way towards and/or through the Indiana House and Senate to limit public access to the handgun-permit database; the other two are from Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus and Rep. Peggy Welch,* D-Bloomington. This would be the normal course of things: legislators introduce bills, PatBauerwhizzesallover the paper they are printed on, there is debate in committee about how badly the ink has run and if the odor can be removed and howniceit was of Boss Pat to anoint it. Eventually, it may reach the floor of either chamber, where it gets walked on but someone might pick it up and bring it to a vote; or so I was given to understand from High School Civics. It has been several years and I may have missed a step, probably also involving Rep. Bauer and a bodily function. The newspaper reports all this in a more-or-less fact-based way, omitting most mentions of The Bauer save as a respected Great Leader.

And that's normal. (As normal goes hereabout).

What's not normal: droppin' a note to a politician vowing eternal enmity, telling him his bill will never receive any favorable coverage in the newspaper, not ever ever ever, nohow neener-neener. If you wanted to be, you know, the state paper of record, a marvel of journalistic probity, doing that'd be a little, well, kooky. 'Cos papers have editorial pages for opinion and news pages that are spozed to be, like, news. Only I guess not, 'cos that's the story making the rounds.

Given this news and the further info that none of the proposed bills prevent publication of data already received, I will not be at all surprised if the Streisand Effect kicks in and some paper -- possibly The (Dim) Star -- publishes the entire, complete list, names, addresses, eye color and all. Desperate for attention, starving for subscribers (if my smallest cat didn't prefer to urinate on it, I would not pay for Indy's local paper) and despite previously-published demurrals about how they sooo respect our privacy and the check will never be in our mouth but will come in the mail instead, what've they got to lose? Certainly not their ethics, which will be found, moldy, in a puddle of used bathwater in Talbot St., the named alley behind 307 N. Pennsylvania Street. Conveniently, the map notes a bankruptcy lawyer right around the corner. H'mmmm.

Me, I'm seein' to my locks. And lockwork. Sure wish I owned more 1911 and AR-15 magazines.___________________________* Hat tip also to Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, who is co-author of her bill.

State Legislators, here's the deal: if you sign onto these bills and I find out about it, you get a link! Free! For Nothin'!

5 comments:

Dear Lord Woman! Warn a man, before he sprays coffee out his mouth, up his sinuses, out his nose and all over my beautiful LCD screen. Fortunately, I managed to slam the keyboard tray into the safety position. Just had to wipe down the monitor area.

Just loved your description of how a bill moves through the legislature. Once upon a time, in my state, in the bad old days, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee had a novel way of dealing with a bill he especially didn't like. He assign it to a famed but non-existent committee. If the non-existent committee failed to vote on the bill, it died.

Reporters used to have all kinds of fun with it.

"When will the committee meet?"

"The committee will determine that."

"Can you at least give us a list of who's on the committee?"

"They know who they are."

If you don't change your writing style PRONTO, I'm in danger of developing an elementary school type crush on you. :)

"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."